To start off the collaboration module, I pitched the concept of Symbolism and Identity. I had found in my initial research into feminism I had started collecting all these symbols and hidden meanings across the movement and it had sparked a little intrigue. I thought for a collaborative project it may be interesting to open this out in broader terms. I started to think about how we can use symbols to express our identities as a whole, not just our gender or political alliances. Do colours act as symbols? Tattoos? Brands we choose? The possibilities are endless, and I was excited to see how another designer would view this. When I see symbols I instantly see surface texture, print, colour and a physical object. I know others would see something totally different when posed with this topic and I love to see how other peoples minds work! I am both inspired by what symbols others identify with and by how they express/design using these. I pitched this to the class and Cienna kindly said she thought this would be interesting too.
Cue Cienna and I negotiating a meeting to see if our collaborative brains would move this forward into something more solid. This was particularly exciting as we don’t really know each other, our mediums or how we work so this is a great experiment for the both of us. What we both thought would be a quick chat turned into a 2 hour brainstorm. We moved a small idea forward into a fully formed social experiment. We had great rapport; challenging and questioning each other politely and listening until we ended up with a concept that both of us can get something productive. from.
We have chosen a series of 15 symbols from all different cultures; each symbolising some form of character or identity trait. We are going to use a variety of methods to create a few sets of tarot-like cards holding these symbols. These will then be left in various rooms round the building with instructions for people to select 5 cards they most feel identify themselves, or simply symbols they may feel drawn to. Subjects are invited to then take a photo of their series and upload this to a hashtag. We would then like to collate these identities anonymously into a physical artefact; be it a mural or photobook.
This is a nice, fun little project that I think relates back to both of our overall projects as we are both studying identity in some way. Obviously this may change as we move through it but I look forward to seeing how it turns out! Watch this space Kingsway Campus, we are coming to invade your psyche!
Cienna’s scribbles
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